Finland
FinlandFinland official name is Republic of Finland, Finnish Suomi or Suomen Tasa Valta, Swedish Finland, or Republiken Finland, European country. It is one of the world's most northern and geographically remote countries and is subject to a severe climate. It is bordered on the north by Norway, on the northwest by Sweden, on the southwest by the Gulf of Bothnia, on the south by the Gulf of Finland, and on the east by Russia. Its area is 130,559 square miles, of which the �land Islands, an archipelago at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia, constitute 590 square miles. About one-third of the territory of Finland--most of the l��ni of Lappi--lies north of the Arctic Circle. The capital is Helsinki. Finland has a population of 5, 137, 269 according to 1997 census.
Finland's inland waters occupy almost 10 percent of the country's total area; there are 10 lakes of more than 100 square miles in area and tens of thousands of smaller ones. The largest lake, Saimaa, in the southeast, covers about 1,700 square miles. There are many other large lakes near it, including P�ij�nne and Pielinen, while Oulu is near Kajaani in central Finland, and Inari is in the extreme north. Away from coastal regions, many of Finland's rivers flow into the lakes, which are generally shallow--only three lakes are deeper than about 300 feet. Saimaa itself drains into the much larger Lake Ladoga in Russian territory via the Vuoksi (Vuoksa) River. Drainage from Finland's eastern uplands is through the lake system of Russian Karelia to the White Sea.
Finland is heavily forested and contains some 55,000 lakes, numerous rivers, and extensive areas of marshland; viewed from the air, Finland looks like an intricate blue and green jigsaw puzzle. Except in the northwest, relief features do not vary greatly, and travelers on the ground or on the water can rarely see beyond the trees. The landscape nevertheless possesses a striking beauty.
The part of Finland north of the Arctic Circle suffers severe and prolonged winters. Temperatures can fall as low as -22 F .In these latitudes the snow never melts from the mountain slopes, but in the short summer , from May to July, temperatures can reach as high as 80 F. Farther south the temperature extremes are slightly less marked. Annual precipitation, about one-third of which falls as sleet or snow, is about 25 inches in the south and a little less in the north. All Finnish waters are subject to some surface freezing during the winter.
Three principal regions may be distinguished in Finland: a coastal plain, an interior lake district, and an interior tract of higher land that rises to the fells of Lapland. The coastal plain comprises a narrow tract in the south, sloping from Salpausselk� to the Gulf of Finland, the southwest plains of the l��ni of Turku ja Pori, and the broad western coastal lowlands of the region of Pohjanmaa facing the Gulf of Bothnia. The...
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